RJ Rushdoony: Don’t Apologize for Your Ancestors

In ’87, Dennis Peacock, Otto Scott, and I spoke in various cities in England, and we spoke in Bristol.

And there was one young man who came, and he was full of self-pity, determined to prove to us what a sensitive holy person he was, because he had ancestors who had worked… Englishmen, in both the states or colonies at the time and in Bristol, as slave traders and slave dealers. And oh this hurt his soul so.

And you know, anytime that we are ready to confess the sins of our forefathers, there is something wrong with us. Because we have enough of our own sins to confess without confessing mama’s and papa’s and grandpa’s and great grandma’s sins. So we let him know what we thought of his confession, it was not an act of holiness.

That’s what our generation is busy doing. Confessing the sins of our forebearers. Oh how terribly they treated the Indians. And how terribly they treated this or that person. Or the Blacks.

I recall a few years ago, early in the 70’s, when a Black woman who had gone to Africa to see what her homeland was like. This was about the time that Roots was published… was interviewed when she came back. And she was asked after seeing Africa, how she felt about having her people “snatched” and “taken away from their homeland”. She said “Taken away? We were rescued!”. She had no use for what she saw in Africa. So don’t go confessing the sins of your ancestors or missionaries of the past. They were very often better people than we are. And we need to be up and doing, so that we can accomplish as much as they did in their day. They were not perfect, none of us are this side of heaven. But they did the Lord’s work as best they could, and we should thank God for them.

This is, of course, not to say that our ancestors were sinless – far from it, and we can learn much from the bad examples of some of our ancestors. However, as Rushdoony points out, the modern desire of many white people to grovel and apologize for their ancestors is not done out of Godliness or holiness. It is done so that they can get a warm fuzzy feeling of self-righteousness and superiority, to slander and tear down their ancestors and their heritage so that their current depravity doesn’t look as bad by comparison. I have found that those who are most eager to apologize for and judge their ancestors are the least worthy people to be judging anyone; least of all our ancestors, whose character and accomplishments tower over anything we can boast of today. Take, for example, this idiotic statement issued by the PCA several years ago on “Racial Reconciliation” (a code phrase which really means “white people groveling before minorities” and usually for imaginary wrongs), in which they most earnestly apologize for their ancestors with a most self-righteous pietistic fervor. The statement is thoroughly cultural Marxist and thus is lauded by the modern American church. Nevermind the fact that the statement is riddled with lies and historical inaccuracies, the great Southern Presbyterian R.L. Dabney’s defense of Southern slavery has never been refuted, and we are never Biblically called to repent of other peoples’ sins (real or imagined). I wonder when the PCA will issue an apology for slandering their ancestors? At least that would be an actual sin and one they could legitimately apologize for.

Nathanael Strickland is the owner and chief editor of FaithandHeritage.com. He was born in Dallas, TX, grew up in upstate SC, and now resides in SE TX. He received both his BS in Political Science with a minor in Economics and his MBA from Clemson University and now works in project management, SEO, and web design. He has ancestors who fought with the patriots in the American Revolution, with the Texans at the Alamo, and with the Confederacy in the War for Southern Independence.
You can reach him by email at editor [at] faithandheritage.com.

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Remember the days of old; consider the years of many generations; ask your father, and he will show you, your elders, and they will tell you. When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God. - Deuteronomy 32:7-8